Of Family Heirlooms, the Pretty Things

 A lot of lovely things sit in boxes for decades, never being used or shared. How often do they get discovered by adult children sorting through what their parents have left behind? We as humans do a lot of collecting and never using things, leaving them to sit in storage with a "maybe someday", or "they're for company", attached to them, that never happens. That someday never comes, and that special occasion meal ends up being served on paper plates and plastic cups, for convenience sake. That antique occasional table sits in the garage waiting for the right place to be placed, and the family photos pile up in cardboard boxes, while modern wall hangings with clever sayings are hung, where that great photo of grandpa Frank and Grandma Mildred should be.

My husband thinks he remembers these beautiful plates hanging on his grandmother's wall. He says she loved pretty and elegant things, even though she never had a big home, or a well off lifestyle, she managed to collect a few that got passed on after she was gone. She was an extraordinary cook I hear, and could stand up to anyone on the major cooking shows. She always wore a dress, and loved to wear brooches. She had a quick sense of humor, and introduced classic movies to my husband and his sister. Whenever my husband sees some of her things he loves to share what he remembers about her, as they spark a walk down memory lane. These plates are hand painted if I'm not mistaken, but regardless, they are designed to be hung on a wall to beautiful a room or area.They are a constant reminder of that loved one who is no longer here, and the good times to be remembered.  It's a shame they didn't get put out, to be a part of new memories being made.

Pretty things accompany memories, of dinners around the table at Christmas, or that quiet conversation over some warm drink during the cold winter months, where  you learned about your grandma's first sweetheart. Maybe grandpa shared his memories of the war, as you sat in front of the fire, and you cried inside to think that he had to go through such horrible things. Always present, never interfering, but silently there, something to gaze upon as life, and sharing, and caring go on. 

Hopefully this home will be a place of peace, and a sanctuary of love and family heirlooms. A place where memories are hopefully cherished, and maybe someday, these pretty things will hang in another of our children or grandchildren's homes, a reminder of stories of yesterday.  A reminder of the special events, or times of struggle, but in all are attached to memories to be shared. 

Put out those pretty things, and use them if possible, and hang those family photos. Use them to tell your children and grandchildren the stories they don't know. Have them out when you create your own memories, so some day they will be a reminder of the great times you've shared together. I know we will.

I Finally Found My Father's Family - Thanks To A DNA Test

 

Years ago, after a family spat that spanned a couple of states, my grandmother finally got fed up and showed me the photo above. She wanted me to know the truth, which is ironic as it was meant to in part get back at someone who was bad mouthing her and her husband. Mom had passed away by the time I was shown this photo, but as soon as grandma showed it to me I said, "That's my father, isn't it?" She filled me in on the story, and the whole time I was feeling such a sense of relief. That may sound strange regarding just finding out that the man you grew up thinking was your father, wasn't. For me though it answered a lot of questions about how I was treated growing up. 

 Even as a child I had a sense that something wasn't quite right. I always thought it was because I was chubby, and plain, not something you could accuse my two adorable sisters of. There were some obvious times that one person in particular was especially cruel, and I didn't understand that. There were also times I thought I was adopted, especially since I didn't look anything like the parents I was with, or my siblings. Here's this chubby frizzy headed white girl, with two darker and beautiful parents, along with everyone else in the family who were all good looking and trim. It was frustrating at times to figure out where I fit in. Was it because I was fat and homely, or what? Families should never keep secrets, but that's another topic for another time.

 

So I've looked for my father over the years off and on, but with little to go on it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. I had what I though was his name, but that brought up nothing either although my first internet search for him gave me 54 men with the same name. Who knew there were that many French men in the US named Maurice?!  Fast forward to 2016, when I got a DNA test done through Ancestry.com. Talk about intriguing! Not only did I discover that I had nationalities in my genetic makeup I wasn't aware of, I all of a sudden had cousins everywhere, well okay, mostly down south, but there are quite a few! And most of them have French surnames, wow!

I contacted one person because she was at the top of my list of DNA matches, which is one of the great aspects of getting your DNA test done through Ancestry.com. They have the biggest data bank around, and so many people utilize their services that it's the best source I've found for genealogy resources. Couple that with their partnership with the LDS church, and Family Search, and I can search for free. They connect you with anyone who has had a DNA test done through them, and you get a ranking regarding relationship. Some people don't have family trees there, but you can see the surnames you all have in common, that's so cool!

So this person contacts me off and on, and then another member of her family asks for a photo of my father. The next thing you know she is sending me photos, and I'm sitting there crying like a baby, looking at photos of my father and some of his family. She then contacted the son that she knew, and sent him the photo above and he verified that it was his dad, and the rest of the family story regarding siblings. I was up until midnight last night crying and rejoicing and worrying.

 Meet Elmo Anthony Prejean, my father, who has passed on now, but left behind a good wife and three children by that union, as well as three children by a previous marriage. I'm tearing up again thinking about all of this. I frankly thought this day would probably never come. I now have six more siblings, all younger than me, and I was able to talk to one of them today. He is such a nice person, honest and open, and I look forward to getting to know him and his family better. I'm sorry I missed my father, but the good Lord knows what we need, and what's best. I will see him on the other side, and we can get to know each other there.

I'm still a bit befuddled, not quite sure what to say from here except wow! I have a whole new family to get to know, and learn about. My children have another grandparent to learn about. We have Cajun roots, which is awesome, and there's a lot more to learn. Oh the tender mercies of God, and the blessings of believing! I'm grateful for the services Ancestry.com offers and encourage everyone to start building their tree, who knows what fruit that will bear!

Genealogy and Indexing - A Mission Learning Curve

 My family tree is a growing by leaps and bounds in Family Search as well as at Ancestry.com. I want to offer thanks to all the people who are involved in indexing, which, if you're not familiar with it, is the transcribing and publishing of public records for the use of genealogists around the world.

 Think of that, people all around the world are able to help make public and give easy access to records of births, marriages, baptisms, and deaths for those of us who are searching for our ancestry and heritage. It's an amazing effort that has made it possible to find records that I would otherwise have to either pay for, and or travel to the communities of those family members who have passed on to sort through.
What used to take years to research and gather information on is now as easy as clicking on a "hint" at your preferred genealogy site. You can view documents in most cases, although sometimes there's just typed information, but along with names and dates you also find addresses, occupations, and even stories about someone you might be looking for. Sometimes I can almost see these people, feel their joy, their pain, and sense the challenges they faced. In one instance I have an ancestor who signed up for military service in WWI and within two months was lost at sea when the ship he was on was attacked and sank. As I read the death record and that the father had been notified of this young man's passing I could feel the grief he, the father, must have felt at the news. Here was a young man who never had the chance to marry or have a family. He was already well traveled as he had been to Guatemala, and lived in Mexico and then as a young salesman for the Goodyear tire company, went to Havana, Cuba on business. His passport stated that he was going back to the US as soon as possible.

To those who are involved in genealogy I want to offer some words of advice. As you access the links provided to records on a person, please please please take the time to view the actual image of the documents if possible. I've found over and over again names and dates misspelled or recorded, most likely as in the case of census records, as an estimate. You will clearly see a name spelled one way on the record, but the typed data on the page prior may have incorrect data. Don't assume that because a name is spelled slightly different, or a date is just not quite right on the hint page, that the record isn't a match. Do your due diligence, as I've found all sorts of new information, such as other family members, and so on by doing this. I've also realized that I might have passed on that "hint" and potentially lost some key information due to incorrect information on the initial hint page.
A good way to tell if a record is a match although the surname or some of the names are wrong, is to check the recorded address. Often people stayed in the same home for years, and in a lot of census records the street and address are recorded, although sometimes not. My guess is that when taking censuses folks would ask information of whomever might be home, and that person either didn't have all the facts and guessed, or for some reason didn't want to give out the right information. In the case of some of my ancestors they may have had accents that were hard to understand. In one instance the first Julius Proeger to come from Germany has three different immigration years listed in the various census records I've found. I'm not sure, except that I do have a birth record on his wife, what her preferred name was, because I've found Mina, which is on her headstone, Whilhelmina, Minnie, and Mine, and her birth name is Sibylla Mina.
If you are involved in indexing, please be very cautious and read through the record viewed very carefully. Sometimes they are hard to sort out, but most of the incorrect information I've found has been misspelled names. Dates are also an issue, although not as much.
If you are involved in genealogy or indexing I would love to hear from you and get some of your feedback as well as hearing your story.

Who Knew? Genealogy can be a lot of fun!

 As I've been searching for family information, I've found a wealth of knowledge about the talents of my family members. This glass pipe, and the bird pickle dishes below were designed by Julius Proeger, one of a line of Julius Proegers in my mom's side of the family. Pretty awesome I think!

 

 

 You may be wondering what Carmen Miranda has to do with my family, well, apparently my grandmother, my mother's mom, used to do hair for people in LA, and Carmen was one of her clients! How come I didn't know that before?! Very cool bit of information.

Here's a photo of the headstones for the first Julius Proeger in our family line to come to the US. Funny, there's another line, with a Julius Proeger, we are trying sort out, to see if he is related. Probably, but we can't say for sure right now.
If you think your family has nothing to learn about, you might be surprised! Genealogy is so fun, and it really turns the hearts of the children to their fathers, as is stated in Malachi. Of course we LDS folk believe that families are meant to be together forever, and that Heavenly Father has a plan for that, but even if you don't believe that, you will still find doing genealogy richly rewarding.

Genealogy and Fishing For Chickens

As the Family History Center Director for our district in Wendover, I am in charge of helping our consultants maintain a center for the public as well as church members. I am also responsible for helping our consultants encourage and support those who are interested in doing their genealogy. It was a calling given as an answer to prayer. Funny thing, the day I actually got down on my knees and asked Heavenly Father for help with my confusing and complex family history I was given the calling to be the Family History Center Director. So, here I am finding all sorts of interesting stories, photos and information on my own family as well as my "steps" of which I have several. Don't ask. :-)
I had to share this story as it brings to life "Grandpa George", who I met as a little girl. He's the gentleman on the left and here's a story that was shared by a brother of his, not the one seen in this photo though.

"Uncle Charlie said that when he was a young man, he and his brother George used to work whenever and where ever they could. They often traveled together while George was driving a Grey Line. They hauled packaged goods to Canada and helped people move and the like.

He said they would get hungry and "accidentally" crush a box of cookies, so that they could eat them. One day George got some line and put a worm on the end of it. He tossed it several times over a fence and into a farmer's yard where there were chickens. Charlie asked him, "What are you doing?" and George replied, "Well, I am fishing for chicken!" Charlie said that they did manage to coax one out that day."